HOW DO YOU WIN THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE?

The event will continue to use a high scoring system i.e. in a 12-boat competition, 12 points will be awarded to the winner of each leg, the overall winner being the team with the most points at the end of the race.

All legs will count with no discards allowed. On the long ocean legs, the gates will offer half points. The same system of 'half points' will be used for the in port racing, accounting for approximately 20% of the total points on offer.

The exact scoring details, taken from the Notice of Race are as follows:

SCORING

• For each Leg, each Boat will receive points equal to the number of entries at the start of the Race less the number of Boats placed above her on that Leg, amended when appropriate by penalties or redress awarded by the International Jury.
• For each In Port Race and scoring waypoint, Boats will receive points equal to half the number of entries at the start of the Race less half the number of Boats placed above her in that race or at that scoring waypoint, amended when appropriate by penalties or redress awarded by the International Jury. Points scored at scoring waypoints count only toward the overall score and do not affect Leg places.
• For each Pro-Am Race a Boat shall have 3 points deducted from her overall score if, in the opinion of the race committee, she fails to make a reasonable attempt to comply with RRS 28.
• A Boat that,
  • (i) starts a Leg or In Port Race and does not finish, (DNF), or
  • (ii) retires after finishing (RAF) a Leg or In Port Race but before the hearing of any protest against her, will score finish points equal to those that would have been gained by the last Boat to finish that race, had all the Boats that started that race finished.
• Waypoint points acquired during a Leg prior to retirement (DNF), but not points for RAF, shall be counted.
• A Boat that is disqualified from a Leg or In Port Race, (DSQ), or does not start a Leg or In Port Race, (DNS), will receive no points.
• The overall Race winner will be the Boat with the most points. The others will be ranked accordingly.

TIES

• When there is a tie on total points between two or more Boats, the tie will be broken in favour of the Boat with the most first places counting Legs and In Port Races, and, if the tie remains, the most second places, and so on. If after completing the procedure described above a tie still exists, it will be broken in favour of the Boat that has the highest place on the last Leg. Any ties still remaining shall be broken in favour of the Boat that has the highest place on the next-to-last race (Leg or In Port race) and so on until all ties are broken.